"Is this what you meant by your reason for swinging the sword?"
Taka suddenly awoke from the boundless chaos, frantically feeling the wounds on his body, only to find they had already healed.
No, not exactly healed, because the space he was in now was not the present world.
Without needing to carefully discern, he could see he was sitting on the streets of Inuzuri District. This could only be his Inner World.
He turned his head and, sure enough, found the gaunt boy who had appeared before, sitting coldly at the entrance of a residential building.
'Tonan? Where was that tanuki-wolf?'
"It is disappointed in you. It doesn't really want to see you." The boy saw through Taka's thoughts, or rather, he didn't need to specially look to understand what Taka was thinking.
Taka felt a dryness in his throat, and the boy silently handed him a portion of food and water.
Food and water, emergency rations made from the Reishi and moisture in the atmosphere.
As already deceased spirits, the residents of Rukongai didn't need solid food to survive, but they at least needed food and water to replenish the Reishi they consumed.
Otherwise, as their Reishi gradually withered, they would first feel hunger, then even the sensation of hunger would disappear, and finally, they would completely dissipate from the world.
Normally, food and water resources were public assets, at least ensuring residents wouldn't starve to death.
But starting from Inuzuri District, the further back the district, the more chaotic it became. Even food and water would be monopolized and sold as commodities.
In the past, Taka had endured countless beatings and suffered countless blows just to barely survive on food and water.
Now, with things changed and people different, seeing this in his Inner World inevitably stirred some emotions.
"Gulp..."
Taka swallowed this once most precious resource, feeling his depleted Reishi slowly replenishing. His body also felt more comfortable.
"Can you tell me what you were thinking?" The boy leaned against the door, his gaze calm and waveless. "You told me you found something more important than merely struggling to survive. Was that just to take a blow for someone else?"
To this, Taka did not refute.
In truth, he himself wasn't entirely sure why he had made that move.
He felt that before his brain could react, his body moved first, blocking the fatal strike for Kyojuro.
He thought for a long time, and finally spoke: "....Maybe I was a bit arrogant, thinking I wouldn't die."
"I thought so too." The boy looked at the grey, hazy sky, seemingly unsurprised by Taka's answer.
If not for forcibly seizing life force from the demon with Tonan to sustain his body, riddled with fatal wounds, Taka would have already fallen.
Taka stood up and drew the Asauchi from his waist.
The Nichirin Blade had once again turned colorless.
"So the power back then, was it Tonan or you...."
Back then, his Zanpakuto had become as scorching as flames. Taka guessed it was Tonan seizing the demonic power belonging to Akaza, igniting the Reishi within.
If Upper Rank Three hadn't repeatedly actively severed his limbs, the scorching energy on it could have almost completely suppressed his regeneration.
"Taka, what exactly is your wish?"
The boy still looked at the sky, interrupting Taka's question. "You were once so resolute in telling me you wanted to escape that terrible place, but now you want to go back?"
He turned his head in confusion, meeting Taka's gaze. "I once thought your wish was to live."
"Whether escaping from there or fighting demons, both were closely linked to your wish...."
"But returning to the Soul Society, for revenge? I think that's no different from suicide."
The boy's gaze was deep and hidden. Even if Taka tried to probe with his Reiatsu, he felt he couldn't see the bottom.
"So, Taka, what is it that you truly seek?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Taka's Inner World became unstable. The bricks and tiles of Rukongai trembled with the boy's question.
Taka frowned. He didn't think too long before answering: "The two were originally the same thing."
"Is that so? I don't think so."
"I wanted to escape that sunless experimental chamber precisely so that one day I could go back and personally end all this."
"....You are a bit too confident in yourself, Taka."
"It's not myself I believe in. It's you I believe in."
These words caused the boy's expression to change for the first time.
Taka's gaze remained calm. "Although many things have developed to this point, and I don't even know who I am anymore, I know that you and Tonan have always been here."
"With your help, I can become stronger, and have the possibility to fulfill my wish."
"You asked if my wish has changed. I can tell you clearly: never."
The boy fell silent, trying to listen to the voice within Taka's heart. The answer he got was the same as what he heard.
The two stared at each other for a long time, even their breathing inaudible.
Finally, the boy sighed heavily:
"Sigh... I hope our choice wasn't wrong, or let's just blame everything on fate."
He raised his hand, crossing space to gently place his palm on Taka's chest.
"Ugh—"
Suddenly, Taka felt a sharp pain.
He looked down and saw his chest gushing blood, his entire ribcage collapsed inward!
"This is...."
Taka remembered. This was where Akaza's final Destructive Death had struck him. It was already a fatal wound!
Speaking of which, if he, as a spirit, was severely wounded and didn't heal, would he completely die...? Was this physical body prepared for him by Aizen...? Or did he create it himself...? Taka didn't know.
"....Taka, if you were to give up this wish, actually, no one could force you."
The boy murmured. From his hand came a stream of extremely pure and overbearing Reishi power, continuously pouring into Taka's body. "Think it over."
Visibly, his bones were regenerating, muscle tissue was stitching itself back together, even the blood flowed back!
In the blink of an eye, the sufficiently fatal wound had recovered as if new!
Taka felt this astonishing power incredulously, looking at the boy in shock:
"I've been curious for a while. Who are you? Why can you speak within my heart?"
"....You will understand, Taka. Trust me, trust yourself."
Hum—!!
As the boy's voice fell, Taka's Inner World finally began to collapse.
He knew this was the other issuing a dismissal, intending to send him back to the real world.
"Remember my words, Taka. You can give up this wish at any time."
In the darkness, these were the last words Taka heard.
When Taka regained consciousness again, he was already lying in a familiar Japanese-style room.
The furnishings, the incense, the rustling sound of garden trees.
'Was this the Butterfly Mansion...?'
Smack!
'Something dropped?'
Taka struggled to look up and saw the twin-tailed girl, Kanzaki Aoi, who had been bringing medicine at the doorway, staring at him in shock:
"Oh my god!! Taka-sama is awake!! Quickly, call Shinobu-nee!!!"
This exclamation directly woke the slumbering Butterfly Mansion night.
In an instant, the familiar members of the Butterfly Mansion rushed in, checking Taka's various vital signs.
"Body temperature normal!"
"Heartbeat normal!"
"Bones... oh my god, they've healed! It's a miracle!"
Seeing their dumbfounded expressions, Taka could roughly imagine that his special recovery speed had scared them again.
Enduring the dizziness in his head, he slowly spoke: "What time is it now?"
"Taka-sama! You've been unconscious for three months!"
'Three months! Oh dear....'
Taka had thought he had slept for quite a while, but hadn't expected it to be this long. Anxiously, he tried to get up, but felt aches and pains all over his body.
'It seemed that although that guy had healed my wounds, he couldn't eliminate this lingering pain....'
Bam!!
The door was roughly pushed open again. A figure stumbled in.
Without needing to specially look, from this special fragrance alone, Taka knew.
Shinobu had arrived.
Trembling, he extended his hand from under the covers, raising it high, only extending a little finger:
"As promised, I'm back."
Taka, imitating Tanjiro's manner, tried hard to force a smile: "I protected everyone. No one died...."
"You idiot!"
Shinobu, who had so much to say, saw Taka's miserable state and laughed in exasperation.
At the corners of her eyes, tinged with a smile, tears seemed to glisten.